Furious Flower IV Honorees
Kwame Dawes is the author of numerous books of poetry and other books of fiction, criticism, and essays. His most recent collection UnHistory, was co-written with John Kinsella (Peepal Tree Press, UK 2022). Dawes is a George W. Holmes University Professor of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Glenna Luschei Editor of Prairie Schooner. He teaches in the Pacific MFA Program and is the Series Editor of the African Poetry Book Series, Director of the African Poetry Book Fund, and Artistic Director of the Calabash International Literary Festival. He is a Chancellor for the Academy of American Poets and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Kwame Dawes is the winner of the prestigious Windham/Campbell Award for Poetry and was a finalist for the 2022 Neustadt International Prize for Literature. In 2022, Dawes was awarded the Order of Distinction Commander class by the Government of Jamaica.
Photo Credits: John Peterson
Elizabeth Alexander, a celebrated poet, scholar, and cultural advocate, is a nationally recognized thought leader on race, justice, the arts, and American society. As president of the Mellon Foundation, she leads a multi-billion-dollar philanthropy and the nation’s largest funder of the arts and humanities. Prior, she served as director of Creativity and Free Expression at the Ford Foundation. Dr. Alexander has taught and inspired generations of students while holding distinguished professorships at Smith College, Columbia University, and Yale University. An author or co-author of fifteen books, she was twice a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize: American Sublime (2005) for poetry and her memoir, the New York Times best-seller The Light of the World (2015) for biography. Her latest is The Trayvon Generation (2022).
Dr. Alexander is Chancellor Emeritus of the Academy of American Poets and serves on the board of the Pulitzer Prize. She has been awarded ten honorary doctorates and recognized as Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government. TIME Magazine named Dr. Alexander one of the 100 Most Influential People of 2022. In 2009, she composed and delivered the poem “Praise Song for the Day” for President Barack Obama’s inauguration.
Portrait by Sharif Hamaz